What model did I buy, (wdbaap0000nbk-01) and how to connect the composite signals?

Hi all,

just entered this forum and hope it’s the right place to ask this question. I just bought a WDTV live box on ebay, and now am a bit helpless hoping for some advice here.

The goal is to connect an a bit seasoned but still wonderful  Sony 16:9 flatscreen tube TV to the NAS based mediaserver I just installed. I also want to stream video and audio from my linvdr that’s been in the basement for years, until now the signal passed a hauppauge MVP Mediaplayer, but the support for that is getting less.

Now, the box arrived yesterday, I had downloaded the manual from the WD site already, but on closer inspection found that the device I have here now is not the same like in the manual.

Since the old TV does not have an HDMI input, I have to rely on the analogue paths. Now, this box here has one more of them than the box depicted in the WD manual. The partnumber of my box is wdbaap0000nbk-01

On the back, there is - from left to right - the power socket, a USB socket, the HDMI socket, an Optical socket (covered), the Ethernet socket, then a small coaxial one labeled AV OUT, and another one labeled YPbPr.

The box came without any cables or adapters, just the power supply. What kind of adapters do I need to get the best signal on the TV? That has inputs for video composite, SCART, and S/VHS.

Thanks in advance for any substantial help!

Cheers,

U. “TwoEyes”

Sounds like you have an old WDTV Live / Live Plus and your TV is only compatible for Composite Input for this device.

The cable you need is a 3.5mm to Composite (Yellow,Red,White)

Or if your TV SCART is Component Input then you will need 2 Cables (Green,Blue,Red for Video Signal + Red,White for Audio)

Component will give you much better Picture Quality over Composite

Unfortunately these are a *special* cables with different pinouts to a standard cable AV cable.

This post … the user lost his/her cable

Bill_S   recommended contacting WD Techincal Support for a Replacement

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Live-Plus/Replacement-composite-cable-help/td-p/33196

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TwoEyes wrote:

 I had downloaded the manual from the WD site already, but on closer inspection found that the device I have here now is not the same like in the manual.

I’m guessing you downloaded the wrong manual.

The manual for your device is here:

http://www.wd.com/wdproducts/library/?id=159&type=25

Both Compsite and Component cables ship with the box originally, so it looks like your seller shorted you.

You can buy a replacement by calling Tech Support (or at least that used to be the case) or try to make your own.

Most of them in the stores aren’t pinned the same way.

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I spotted an appropriate cable for the composite part on amazon and ordered it, but none for the components path - I assume that the cable quality required to convey the three video signals there is different from the ones that carry two sound channels. Any hints on sources other than WD itself? What keywords are most likely to lead to a successful search?

Thanks, cheers,

U.

TonyPh12345 wrote:


TwoEyes wrote:

 I had downloaded the manual from the WD site already, but on closer inspection found that the device I have here now is not the same like in the manual.


I’m guessing you downloaded the wrong manual.

You can buy a replacement by calling Tech Support (or at least that used to be the case) or try to make your own.

 

Most of them in the stores aren’t pinned the same way.

 

Thanks for the correct link to the manual for my device. Are you saying that the common 4pole-3.5mm coax to triple cinch AV cables are wired differently from the one that WD uses? What is on the tip of the coax plug - video? I guess so, at least, then two rings for the stereo sound, and the body for ground . That’s what I would expect. Is there any place that specifies the pinout of the WD player?

BTW, the seller was not aware any more of the cables since he had used it only with a HDMI connection. He promised to search at least …

Thanks and cheers,

U.

JoeySmyth wrote:

Sounds like you have an old WDTV Live / Live Plus and your TV is only compatible for Composite Input for this device.

 

The cable you need is a 3.5mm to Composite (Yellow,Red,White)

 

Or if your TV SCART is Component Input then you will need 2 Cables (Green,Blue,Red for Video Signal + Red,White for Audio)

 

Component will give you much better Picture Quality over Composite

 

Unfortunately these are a *special* cables with different pinouts to a standard cable AV cable.

 

This post … the user lost his/her cable

 

Bill_S   recommended contacting WD Techincal Support for a Replacement

 

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Live-Plus/Replacement-composite-cable-help/td-p/33196

So, what I learned from that thread from 2010, is: The pin mapping of the AV flavour of the cable is standard. Probably the same type of cable is used for the three channels (but that can be concluded only inversely, because a component cable can replace an AV / composite cable. The other way round was not mentioned.)

Does the component signal run synchronized with the composite signal also for the pretty slow SD signal? My TV is a Sony KV-36HQ100, it has RGB inputs.

Here’s a pinout link: http://pinoutsguide.com/Home/wd_tv_tvout_cable_pinout.shtml

(ignore the “Alternative Component pinout”)

As a test i found a Standard Component to 3.5mm cable (On the LEFT)

Checked with a multi meter:

1 = RED

2 = BLUE

3 = GREEN

4 = GROUND

Compared to the WDTV Component to 3.5mm cable (On the RIGHT)

it measures:

1 = GREEN

2 = BLUE

3 = RED

4 = GROUND

So, since they are reversed… i hooked up my old WDTV Live to the TV using the Standard Cable (non-wd)

RED    into GREEN input on the TV

BLUE  into BLUE input on the TV

GREEN into RED input on the TV

Worked fine :smiley:

I don’t have a Standard 3.5mm to Composite cable to test … but i’ll bet the pinouts are also reversed…

WD

1 = YELLOW

2 = WHITE

3 = RED

4 = GROUND

STANDARD

1 = RED

2 = WHITE

3 = YELLOW

4 = GROUND

So a Standard cable would be hooked up like this

RED    into YELLOW input on the TV

WHITE  into WHITE input on the TV

YELLOW into RED input on the TV

Intermediate status report: The ebay seller found the original cable and sent it, not yet here. Meanwhile, I got a “standard” cable, sold through amazon. Maybe a standard for video cameras, but not suited to connect the WD to a TV without alterations.

The connections (accordind to the scheme in the previous posting) are:

1 goes to the signal pin of stereo-L  (white)

2 goes to the signal pin of  video  (yellow)

3 goes to GROUND (!!!)

4 goes to the signal pin of stereo-R (red).

At least, I got a very shaky vid image after plugging the white RCA plug into video, but of course it’s wired incorrectly.

Now, I ordered some single 4-pole plugs and will solder the cables in correct order to one of them, the others are spares…

At least, I could already perform  a firmware upgrade.

Cheers,

U.

Those pinouts are crazy :confounded:

Personally, i’d wait for the original cable to arrive … and see what’s the picture is like

“Composite Video”  Standard Definition looks pretty fuzzy

“Component Video” is better  (1080i)

“HDMI”  Full1080p is the best

(I would recommend a TV (HD) upgrade personally … )

Generally, I agree. But for the time being , we are happy with our big Sony KV-36HQ100E.

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Live-Plus/WDTV-FAQ/m-p/32135/highlight/true#M9634

Section 1H.

Thanks for the message. As mentionied in my second-previous artcle, I found out that the pin mapping of the AV cables you get  “in the shops” - or @ ebay, amazon, etc. - varies substantially from the WD cable, the most important that ‘ground’ is not on the last ring but on the second one counted from the cable end of the plug. Some hand-soldering seems inevitable then. WD cables use that as a signal contact.

Today, the original WD cable arrived. To cut it short - the image quality (composite) and tata handling is disgusting. Hauppauge and others have shown a long time before how to achieve a clean composite signal.

The image looks like the video signal is modulated by some signal of about half or quarter the pixel rate, accomanied by severe undersampling; there is a static fine structured moiré pattern all over the screen. Only in saturated (bright) areas, it becomes less visible, but is still there.

Edges are not just burred, they are smeared. The video image resembles the cheapest most outdated video sources I have ever seen on a monitor, and professionally, I have to do with image and video processing since 1975.

But what disappoints me most is the limited range of data that this player can reproduce. I guess this will also be the same for HDMI (I’ll get an HDMI monitor over the weekend from a friend): mp4 is impossible to see, .mkv the same, some .flv files play, others not (all visible on the PC with VLC and others).

And if that was not enough: The replay of some videos (recorded TV programs (from a dvb-s-source) that start to run correctly at least switch to fast forward without any intervention from my side. All source material was displayed correctly on various PCs before.

I updated the firmware to the latest available version.

Is the reason for all those failures the old device version? Do more recent versions show a better behaviour?

I am aware that the main purpose of the player is the reproduction of HDMI, but then, the auto-fast-foward and the denied data formats (or wrong interpretation of the data) is repelling.

DVDs ripped to ISO look no worse on my (old) WDTV Live over compsite than the original DVDs from my standalone DVD player attached to the same CRT TV. MKV, MP4, FLV is fine as long they come with the supported codecs. And again, VLC is tuned to play bad files. The fact that it plays more files than a limited standalone media player proves nothing.

I noticed a loud buzzing when trying to hook up my AV cable (not sure if it’s the one that came w/ WDTV Live), so found this post and switched the colors.  Much improved but still a low grade buzz that’s annoying.  Any other thoughts?